Madd About Those Who Keep Us Safe

Organization Honors Top Officers In Dui Arrests

HAMPTON — Trooper Michael Fisher had just come on duty Sept. 24 when a dispatcher reported a crash with injuries on Route 238 near the Yorktown Naval Weapons Station.

As he pulled closer to the scene, the young trooper saw pieces of glass, plastic and twisted metal around the mangled Ford Bronco and Chevy pickup.

"It was pretty nasty," Fisher recalled.

A half-dozen people, some in uniform, were bent over a man on the ground, a few feet from the pickup. As Fisher walked up to the Ford Bronco, he saw the dazed driver's bloodied face.

Fisher later charged the driver, Ralph E. Hintemeyer, Jr., 35, of Norfolk with drunken driving and involuntary manslaughter in the head-on crash that killed 55-year-old Wayne B. Kemp, a York County resident.

On April 10, the Peninsula chapter of Mothers Against Drunken Driving recognized Fisher and 20 other law enforcement officers who led their departments in drunken-driving arrests last year.

Fisher's 135 DUI arrests were the highest among troopers statewide. He also had led the State Police in drug arrests with 105.

A hospital test showed Hintenmeyer's blood- alcohol level was three times the legal limit. Hintemeyer is in the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail awaiting a jury trial May 25.

"Here he was, a Navy officer in full uniform at 9:30 in the morning driving drunk three days after he was convicted of DUI in Virginia Beach," Fisher said.

Fisher would rather arrest an intoxicated driver after a traffic stop than in the aftermath of a serious or fatal crash.

Fisher, who grew up in Orange County, Calif., watching TV cop and rescue shows, downplayed his arrest numbers. "I've never been one to be in the spotlight," he said. Fisher says there are other troopers and police officers who work just as hard.

He understands the reason for the lower arrest numbers by police officers from the municipal departments, such as Hampton, Newport News, Williamsburg and York County.

"Most of these officers have to take domestic calls and answer other complaints," he said.

"We aren't overwhelmed with these types of calls, so we can concentrate on identifying these people and getting them off the highways."

But his arrest numbers are also very high when you compare them to those of other State Police.